Status of quake-stricken reactors at Fukushima nuclear power plants
TOKYO, March 19, Kyodo

The following is the known status as of Friday night of each of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and the four reactors at the Fukushima Daini plant, both in Fukushima Prefecture, which were crippled by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the ensuing tsunami on March 11.

-- Reactors No. 5, 6 - Under maintenance when quake struck, some fuel rods left in reactor cores, water temperatures in spent-fuel storage pools increased to about 64 C on Thursday.

-- Spent-fuel storage pools - Cooling functions lost at reactors No. 1 to 4, water temperatures or levels unobservable at reactors No. 1 to 4, no immediate threat to water level at common spent fuel pool.

The boss of the company behind the devastated Japanese nuclear reactor today broke down in tears - as his country finally acknowledged the radiation spewing from the over-heating reactors and fuel rods was enough to kill some citizens

Tokyo Electric Power Company Managing Director Akio Komiri cries as he leaves after a press conference in Fukushima

He's obviously scared out of his senses. One does not become a CEO by blubbering after a press conference. Interesting to see people at the top when they have to deal with a real crisis, as opposed to the manufactured ones we're all used to seeing that have a 20 year planning process.

In essence, this means we (in particular the people of Japan, for now) should be very, very afraid. This is only the beginning, but this is also tantamount to an admission of guilt; and he's privy to info we don't have.

(03-18-2011, 11:00 PM)JayRodney Wrote: It's time to ratchet up the doom level!

you asked for it

Quote:The fuel rods at all six reactors at the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi complex contain plutonium â€” better known as fuel for nuclear weapons. While plutonium is more toxic than uranium, other radioactive elements leaking out are likely to be of greater danger to the general public.
Only six percent of the fuel rods at the plant's Unit 3 were a mixture of plutonium-239 and uranium-235 when first put into operation. The fuel in other reactors is only uranium, but even there, plutonium is created during the fission process.
This means the fuel in all of the stricken reactors and spent fuel pools contain plutonium.

(03-19-2011, 03:10 PM)JayRodney Wrote: That's a long term solution to a short term problem.

let's hope it's a short term problem

Quote:Excessive radiation was found Saturday in milk and spinach in Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures, while officials spoke of some stability and lower-than-anticipated temperatures at crisis-hit reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant as anticrisis efforts continued.

The radiation was above Japan's regulated standards but does not immediately pose a risk to human health, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said in a press conference.

Edano said, however, that conditions at the plant's most dangerous No. 3 reactor unit have likely become relatively stable after firefighters threw some 60 tons of water at a boiling spent fuel pool there shortly after midnight from outside the damaged building housing it.

Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa separately said the surface temperatures at the No. 1 to No. 4 reactors were found in the morning at 100 C or lower by a Self-Defense Force helicopter, adding their conditions remain more stable than expected.

''We're trying to get things under control, but we're still in an unpredictable situation,'' Edano said.

TRACES of radioactive iodine were detected in tap water in Tokyo in the wake of the emergency at the Fukushima quake-hit nuclear power plant.
Abnormal levels of radioactive iodine were also found in the water supply in the central prefectures of Gunma, Tochigi, Saitama, Chiba and Niigata, said an official at Japan's science ministry, which is monitoring radiation levels.
But the levels were far below Japan's legal limit, said the official, who did not want to be named.
Earlier the government said it had discovered abnormal levels of radiation that exceeded the legal limit in milk and spinach from areas near the stricken plant, but they posed no immediate threat to humans.

Quote:Security cameras installed by Israeli defense company at Fukushima plant have ability to detect presence of radioactive clouds in air.

As the world continues to gaze with concern at Japanâ€™s Fukushima nuclear power plant, hi-tech security cameras installed by an Israeli defense firm are recording events at the troubled core from an insiderâ€™s vantage point.

The Arava-based Magna BSP company, which specializes in producing and installing stereoscopic sensory and thermal imaging cameras, had been contracted to place cameras around one of the plantâ€™s six cores â€“ the core that has been experiencing explosions and overheating.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Monday, Magnaâ€™s head, Haim Siboni, said the thermal cameras also had the ability to detect the presence of radioactive clouds in the air, but added that Magna had not been able to gain access to the images recorded by the cameras at this time.

â€œBecause we are using these special cameras, we can also identify radioactive clouds, due to the spectrum that our cameras can sense,â€ Siboni said.

Although Magna is able to gain remote access to its computer system, which receives the camerasâ€™ images, Siboni said his company had not yet been authorized to do so.

â€œWe have not been allowed to take control remotely yet,â€ Siboni said.

Magna has been asked to secure a second core at the Fukushima plant in the near future.

The contractor of the tech used, isn't allowed to see its own footage. They should release Infra red and thermal imaging pictures. Full Disclosure! Lives depend on it.